<h4>Chapter 180: The Hunter’s Introduction</h4>


    <strong>KESTREL POV</strong>


    I felt the spatial tear before I saw it - a wound in reality itself that made my teeth ache.


    The Triple Moon bearer was here, in Reality 47-B, and her presence was ripping holes in the fabric of reality. I had to stop her before she destroyed everything.


    I stepped through my own portal,nding quietly on the battlefield where she stood. Around me, dark creatures and humans fought their endless war, but I ignored them. They weren’t my problem.


    She was.


    Lily Carter. The omega wolf who thought she was helping people by spreading her dimensional energy like a gue. She had no idea how much damage she was causing.


    I watched her talking to the shadow beings, her voice gentle and kind. She genuinely thought she was healing them. It would have been nice if it wasn’t so dangerous.


    "You can teach us?" one of the shadow animals asked her.


    "We can teach each other," she responded.


    I almost felt sorry for her. She had such good goals. But good goals meant nothing when reality itself was at stake.


    That’s when her son appeared - the void entity I’d been tracking across seventeen different worlds. He was just as dangerous as his mother, maybe more so, because he didn’t even pretend to care about the consequences of his deeds.


    "All the hollow ones will join me," he stated. "Together we will make every reality peaceful. Empty. Safe."


    I’d seen what his version of "peace" looked like. Entire worlds turned into void wastnds where nothing existed except his endless hunger.


    Time to act.


    I stepped out of the darkness, letting them see me for the first time. Both Lily and her son turned to stare, and I felt their dimensional energy respond to my presence like oil hitting fire.


    "That’s enough," I said simply.


    Lily’s eyes widened. "Who are you?"


    "My name is Kestrel," I answered. "I’m a Dimension Hunter, and you’re both under arrest for crimes against reality."


    The void creature - her son -ughed. It was not a nice sound. "Another Guardian trying to stop us? How tiresome."


    "I’m not a Guardian," I amended. "Guardians try to preserve and guard. I hunt and remove threats."


    Lily stepped protectively in front of her son, which would have been admirable if it wasn’t so useless. "We’re not threatening anyone. We’re trying to help these beings heal."


    "By destabilizing the dimensional barriers between realities," I said. "Every time you use your Triple Moon powers, you weaken the walls that keep different worlds separate. Every portal you make leaves scars that never fully heal."


    I motioned around us at the battlefield. "This world is dying because of dimensional disorder. The war between humans and magical beings started when reality began breaking down. They’re fighting each other because the fabric of their world is actually falling apart."


    Lily’s face went pale. "That’s not... I didn’t know..."


    "Of course you didn’t," I said, and I meant it kindly. "You’re not the first Triple Moon bearer I’ve had to deal with. They’re all the same - powerful, well-meaning, and totally unaware that their very existence is slowly unraveling everything."


    Her son moved to stand beside her, void energy sparking around his form. "Even if that’s true, mother is trying to help. She’s not the monster here."


    "No," I agreed. "Neither of you are monsters. You’re just incredibly dangerous."


    I’d been doing this job for three hundred years, across more worlds than I could count. I’d seen worlds copse because someone with dimensional powers got careless. I’d watched entire kingdoms cease to exist because a well-meaning being tried to help too many people across too many realities.


    "What do you want from us?" Lily asked.


    "Come with me willingly," I offered. "Both of you. There’s a ce between dimensions where beings like you can live without damaging reality. You can help each other, heal together, learn to control your powers."


    "A prison, you mean," her son said coldly.


    "A sanctuary," I amended. "The alternative is that I have to stop you by force, and trust me, nobody wants that."


    Lily looked confused and scared. "But what about my pack? My mate? I can’t just leave them."


    "Your pack is being torn apart right now because of your dimensional connections," I told her softly. "Every bond you have to your home world is being used against them by other hunters. The longer you stay linked, the more danger you put them in."


    I could see the pain in her eyes as she processed this. It was always hard for them to understand that loving someone sometimes meant staying away from them.


    "How do I know you’re telling the truth?" she asked.


    Instead of replying with words, I opened a viewing portal - a small window that showed her what was happening back at Silver Peak. She gasped as she saw her pack members writhing in pain, their ties to her being attacked by hunters like me.


    "There are others?" she whispered.


    "Dozens," I confirmed. "All tracking you through your connections to that world. I’m actually trying to help you, Lily. The others will simply kill you and everyone you’re linked to."


    Her son stepped forward, void energy building around him. "Then we fight them all."


    "And in the process, destroy how many realities?" I asked. "Because that’s what happens when beings with our level of power go to war across worlds. Entire universes be coteral damage."


    I’d seen it happen before. The Crimson Wars of Reality Cluster 12. The Void Rebellion that consumed seventeen realms. Always started the same way - strong beings who thought they could solve everything with more power.


    "There has to be another way," Lily said desperately.


    "There is," I answered. "Come with me. Let me teach you how to control your powers without destroying everything around you. Learn to help people without identally killing them."


    But before she could answer, rms started screaming across the battlefield. The shadow creatures and humans stopped fighting and looked up at the sky in fear.


    Because hanging above us, blotting out the stars, was something that made my blood run cold.


    A Void Harvester. One of the most dangerous creatures in all the realms - a being that consumed entire realities for food.


    "No," I breathed. "How did it find this ce so fast?"


    Lily’s son smiled coldly. "I called it. If you’re going to attack my mother, then I’ll show you what a real threat looks like."


    The Harvester opened what might have been a mouth, and started draining the life from everything on the battlefield. Humans, shadow creatures, even the world itself started withering away.


    "You fool!" I shouted at him. "That thing will consume this entire reality! Including us!"


    But he justughed as the world started to die around us.


    "Then we’d better find a way to stop it, hadn’t we, Hunter?"